In 2008, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Kenyan Government joined hands to form the Partnership for an HIV-Free Generation. Its mission: to combat the “great plague” of our time through an ongoing country-wide, youth-born campaign that gave birth to, among other things, the national G-Pange movement that stresses “know your status”. With the help of global companies like MTV, Microsoft and Pathfinder, Kenya has been breaking new ground when it comes to rethinking HIV campaigns.

In addition to an emphasis on getting people into Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) centres, a recent report says that the treatment of HIV is a powerful new weapon in preventing the transmission of the disease. According to PEPFAR’s 8th Annual Report to U.S. Congress, the right treatment of HIV reduces the risk of transmission to a partner by 96 percent, which is better than what most vaccines can promise against other big viral diseases. This makes early detection and treatment essential in future efforts to create a continent free of HIV. Still, the fear of the diagnosis keeps many people away from the VCT centres.

Njeri Mwaniki, a VCT counsellor, says this negativity can be traced back to the deployment of scare tactics in the early HIV and AIDS campaigns in Kenya. “Back then, all we ever saw was ‘AIDS KILLS!’ along with traumatising photographs that haunt us till this day. That’s probably why walking into a VCT centre is one of the hardest parts of the whole process. People circle back once or twice before actually walking in, all because of the fear of being judged.” One of the people who did cross the threshold is 24-year-old Agnes.

She admits she had to get tested without her boyfriend. “When I brought the subject up, he said that I didn’t trust him and got mad. I got scared and decided to get tested without him,” she says. “Despite the fact that I had to get tested without my partner, I am glad I was brave enough to know my HIV status and live responsibly with that knowledge. There’s no point [in] being afraid of the truth.” Yet, how many “Agneses” are out there? Are we ready to take the first step into the clinic and wager against the odds: HIV negative? HIV positive? In Njeri’s opinion, whatever the outcome, knowing your status does not spell immediate fatality.

“I have seen many people turn tragedy into triumph by living long fulfilling lives for up to ten years after testing positive, with the help of ARV’s (anti-retroviral drugs) and eating a balanced diet,” he reiterates. Worryingly, according to Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium, only 400,000 of the one million people in Kenya in need of ARVs actually receive them. The shortage of supplies to meet these numbers has been linked to fund cuts made by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, earlier this year. Kenya is among the countries that were potential beneficiaries of “Round 11”, a program that would have covered new grants for the prevention and treatment of the three diseases from 2011 to 2013.

However bleak the situation may be, there is still cause for celebration as more young people become knowledgeable and conscious about prevention of the disease. A greater access to information through the Internet and some of the more innovative initiatives coming out of the Partnership for an HIV-Free Generation— like G-Pange and the Shuga TV series—are making an impact. According to USAID, the national prevalence rate has steadily declined from about 14 percent in the mid- 1990s to 6.3 percent in 2009. Perhaps there is light at the end of the “HIV-free” tunnel, but a long journey still awaits. For more information on VCTs and to find your nearest VCT centre, visit www.liverpoolvct.org .